11 Questions: Teresa “Teri” Anderson

May 27, 2025

Before joining ALA, Anderson spent more than three decades at ASIS International, a professional organization for security management professionals. She held several positions at the organization, most recently serving as vice president of innovation and outreach, a role in which she provided subject matter expertise and liaised with partners across the security industry. Anderson is … Continue reading 11 Questions: Teresa “Teri” Anderson



Jennifer Beals, assistant dean and director of the Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives at University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), poses with items from the library's Scopes Trial collection.

Bookend: On the Origin of Scopes

May 1, 2025

“There’s just so much surrounding the whole story,” says Jennifer Beals, assistant dean and director of the Betsey B. Creekmore Special Collections and University Archives at University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK), who curated the library’s exhibit commemorating the trial’s centennial. UTK’s Scopes trial archive includes transcripts, photos, and ephemera from locals and attorneys involved in the … Continue reading Bookend: On the Origin of Scopes


Brea McQueen's headshot

Crip Time in the Library

May 1, 2025

At this point in the year, almost everyone on campus seems to be thinking about the end of the term. But this span of time doesn’t necessarily look or feel the same to everyone. Some of us who have disabilities move through time a little differently, experiencing it as particularly nebulous and abstract. I am … Continue reading Crip Time in the Library


Headshots of authors Jennifer Embree and Neyda Gilman

Growth Report

March 3, 2025

At the time, we each were working independently on similar, smaller projects within BUL’s Science Library, like using a small area to feature some of the library’s sustainability resources and research happening on campus, as well as providing meeting spaces for sustainability-focused student clubs. But we recognized we could think bigger. In 2020, we received … Continue reading Growth Report


Headshot of Sarah Tribelhorn

Assessing AI

March 3, 2025

Training and operating AI tools like large language models, for instance, require substantial computational power. Generating one image could use as much energy as charging an average smartphone, according to a 2023 study by AI developer Hugging Face and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, the first study of its kind to measure the carbon and … Continue reading Assessing AI


Librarian's Library by Allison Escoto

Sustainable Efforts

March 3, 2025

Information for Sustainable Development: Technology, People, and Society By G. G. Chowdhury and Sudatta Chowdhury Sustainability is a worldwide endeavor, and the participation of information professionals in its achievement is front and center in this book. The authors parse out the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals and explain that the sharing of data and … Continue reading Sustainable Efforts


Sitting area with fireplace in Brown County Library, East branch.

Submissions Open for Library Design Showcase

January 2, 2025

We are looking for examples of innovative library architecture that address patrons’ needs in unique and effective ways. We are especially interested in submissions from libraries that are approaching design with sustainability, accessibility, and smaller budgets in mind. Partial renovations, projects under $1 million, and school libraries are encouraged to apply. To be eligible, projects … Continue reading Submissions Open for Library Design Showcase


Enchroma color-corrective glasses

In Living Color

January 2, 2025

In recent years, libraries of all sizes have begun adding color-corrective glasses to their Library of Things collections. Made possible primarily through partnerships with manufacturers, patrons can test these glasses out before committing to purchasing their own pair. Removing barriers Color blindness, also known as color vision deficiency, affects about 350 million people worldwide, primarily … Continue reading In Living Color


Jabba the Hutt figurine from the Nicholas A. Salerno Star Wars Collection at Arizona State University

By the Numbers: Literary Phoenix

January 2, 2025

American Library Association’s LibLearnX Conference in Phoenix will take place Jan. 24–27. 28,000 Number of Indigenous artists represented in the Billie Jane Baguley Library and Archives (BJBLA), located within the Heard Museum in Phoenix. Like the museum, BJBLA’s holdings include traditional and contemporary American Indian artists’ art, written works, and biographical information. $500 Amount that … Continue reading By the Numbers: Literary Phoenix


Caelin Ross, performing arts librarian at Arizona State University Library in Tempe, poses with items from its Theatre for Youth and Community Collection.

Bookend: Curtains Up

January 2, 2025

“You can learn so much … from plays written for, with, and by youth,” says Ross, performing arts librarian at Arizona State University (ASU) Library in Tempe, noting that young imaginations allow for more “interesting and experimental” presentations. Ross oversees ASU’s Theatre for Youth and Community Collection. Founded in 1979, the university says it is … Continue reading Bookend: Curtains Up


Illustration of an open backpack with stolen library books spilling out

Stolen Pages

November 1, 2024

Those great big red books were four double-size, incalculably valuable folios of John James Audubon’s 1838 Birds of America. Fewer than 200 sets exist. Brown realized that one of them was probably being stolen from her library. On the 20th anniversary of what became known as the Transy book heist, American Libraries looks back at … Continue reading Stolen Pages